Crime
Wayward
Wayward tries to make a statement about intergenerational trauma, but it comes with a lot of content issues that will make the show a nonstarter for many.
Two DEA agents bust down the door, flashing badges and confidence alike. They’ve got their guns drawn, and they bring you face first to the carpet. They confiscate your drugs and your money, and they warn you that backup is about to bust in and take you in. It’s only a few minutes later when you realize you’ve been conned.
That’s how Ray and Manny’s operation is supposed to work. The best friends pose as DEA agents, scare some dumb kids out of the drug business, pocket their money and give whatever drugs they had to their own guy to resell on the street. They don’t make much money, targeting these tiny operations, but it’s usually enough to get by.
But then Ray finds his adoptive mother, Theresa, in need of ten grand for medical expenses. That’s why they hire the twitchy ex-con, Rick, to help them bust a slightly larger operation.
But they never realized just how big the operation was.
Rick panics. He executes one of the cooks in the meth lab, sparking a shootout that ends in everyone dead, save for Ray, Manny and a severely wounded cook. And as the building burns down, Ray and Manny flee with more than $400,000 in cash and dozens of bottles of liquid meth—money and drugs that were supposed to be in the hand of the lab’s deranged higher-ups.
It doesn’t take long for said higher-ups to figure out who’s responsible for their loss—and for the threats to start coming in. It’s too late to return the stuff, the bad guys say: Now, they must kill every one of Ray and Manny’s relatives just out of principle for being disrespected.
And they’re not the only ones looking for the duo. Turns out, that surviving cook was an actual undercover agent who was busy working the case, and she’s quick to start a new investigation into the two guys who’ve broken her case.
I’m sure there’s a moral somewhere in this story.
Before biting off more than they could chew, the friends considered themselves enforcers, culling weak dealers out of the market like hunters controlling an overpopulated deer problem. But after their inciting incident, they come to realize that being a slightly bigger and more competent deer doesn’t make them hunters; it just makes them a more appealing target to hunt.
Manny and Ray dodge bullets and slay would-be killers in intense survival situations, and those deaths can be bloody and gruesome. One guy, for instance, gets pinned against a wall and run over by a passing truck. And in the second episode, the duo comes across the blood-soaked bodies of torture victims. Heavy language likewise pervades the show, too. And it should come as no surprise that a series called Dope Thief would feature a whole lot of drugs and thievery.
Like many of the releases on Apple TV, Dope Thief is, plot-wise, well-written and engaging. But with the many issues that come alongside it, you might consider swerving away from these frantic deer.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Hoping to earn a bit more money, Ray and Manny set up a sting for a bigger meth operation. But things quickly go south when their new partner panics.
We see three people die from gunshot wounds. One man is executed, and blood splatters across the ground. Another person bleeds out from a bullet wound, and a third dies when he’s shot in the chest. Their bodies are later found, charred from a fire.
Elsewhere in this episode’s violence moments, a man removes shotgun pellets from his shoulder, and a woman suffers from a bullet wound to the neck, passing out. Someone gets smacked in the face with a gun. A building explodes. Ray and Manny threaten teens by holding guns to their faces. Teens drive while intoxicated and crash their car (it’s implied that one of the adolescents dies). Someone threatens Ray and Manny, telling them to turn around lest police officers find their bodies in the woods, “raped with shotguns.”
We see the duo pull a naked man out of the shower during one stings, though we don’t see anything critical. A teen puts his hand on the inner thigh of his girlfriend.
People run a variety of drug operations, including manufacturing and selling meth and cocaine.
In the background of a couple drug houses, we see crucifixes or crosses. We’re told that Jesús Malverde is the “patron saint of drug dealers.” Someone references Mars, the Roman god of war.
A scared man wets himself.
We hear the f-word roughly 100 times, including 10 or so pairings with “mother.” The s-word is used more than 50 times. We hear a crude word for male genitalia. We also hear plenty of other vulgarities, too, such as “a–,” “b–ch,” “h—,” “p-ss,” “d–n” and “pr-ck.” God’s name is used in vain four times, including two instances with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is likewise used in vain twice.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Wayward tries to make a statement about intergenerational trauma, but it comes with a lot of content issues that will make the show a nonstarter for many.
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